Free Raven: Sons of Thunder by Giles Kristian Page B

did not make him any keener to prove himself, but after a few more insults he sat on my journey chest and gripped the smooth spruce stave.
    ‘An Englishman at our oars! You trying to sink us, Raven?’ Bjorn called, stirring a smattering of laughter and a few prayers to Njörd.
    ‘I hope the girl and the Christ slave can swim, Raven,’ Sigurd said as we looked to the shore. ‘This high tide will be hiding rocks I would rather avoid. They will have to come to us.’
    ‘Cynethryth swims like a fish, lord,’ I said, remembering my struggle to keep up with her that morning. Lying with her in the sheltered cove already felt like a lifetime ago. Now her father was our prisoner and I did not know what Cynethryth would think about that. ‘As for the monk, lord, I don’t know if he can swim that far. I hope he can’t.’ Sigurd chuckled. ‘Or perhaps Asgot can ask Njörd to send a sea monster to swallow the weasel,’ I said.
    ‘Then I would pity the monster,’ Sigurd said, ‘for I am thinking that Egfrith would taste foul. Like rancid milk or rotten eggs . . . or worse.’ He began to tie his thick golden beard into one plait. ‘It was an easy fight, hey, Raven?’
    ‘Too easy, lord,’ I replied, slapping at a fly that would notgive up some crusted blood on my arm. ‘I almost felt sorry for them.’
    He shook his head, tying off the plait with a strip of leather. The sound of chopping wood hammered across the water as Fjord-Elk ’s crew dealt with the cross at her prow. ‘Felt sorry for them? They would have cut off your balls and fed them to you if they could have. You are a strange one, Raven. Loving your enemies is better left to the Christ slaves. I took you into the Fellowship because you share Thór’s love of a good fight, not so that you could pity the men who want to wind-dry your innards.’
    ‘I said I almost felt sorry for them, lord,’ I said. ‘Then one of them pissed himself and soaked my boots and I thought to Hel with them.’
    Sigurd laughed. ‘That’s better, lad. That’s my Raven, my son of thunder.’
    We gestured to Cynethryth and Egfrith that they would have to swim out to us and I could see Cynethryth encouraging the monk, even taking his hand and dragging him into the surf. In the event they swam easily, making me wonder if Egfrith was more otter than weasel. We lowered a rope which they clung to for a while, catching their breath whilst we backed oars to counter the current, then we hauled them in like fish and gave them blankets. Then Cynethryth saw her father below Serpent ’s prow and her face, already pale from the cold water, turned death white.
    ‘I want to talk to him,’ she said, water dripping from her long hair and spotting the deck. I saw Ealdred’s eyes fall on his daughter. He looked as though he had been struck in the face with an oar blade. He stood though, raising his chin, and gave the girl a strained smile whilst the Englishmen around him kept their eyes lowered. They had their own fates to think of now. I turned to ask Sigurd if Cynethryth could go to her father, but the jarl swung his eyes over my shoulderand I turned back to see that Cynethryth was already halfway along the deck, tying up her hair as she went, her wet blanket discarded.
    ‘Make sure she doesn’t kill him, Raven,’ Sigurd said, scratching his bearded cheek.
    I followed Cynethryth.

CHAPTER SIX

     
    I STOOD AT CYNETHRYTH’S SHOULDER, STARING BALEFULLY at Ealdred who ignored me completely. His eyes were on his daughter’s and they seemed to have wilted like his moustache.
    ‘Have these devils harmed you?’ Ealdred asked Cynethryth.
    I wanted to tell Ealdred what I thought of him. Instead, I clutched the pommel of the sword at my side and bit my tongue.
    ‘No, Father,’ she said. ‘Why should they harm me? I did not betray them.’ The words sounded flat as barley bread but the accusation struck Ealdred for all that, for he clenched his sharp jaw, the muscles bouncing in his cheek as